Recaps

Lily identified the captured creature as a Nightmare Monster and arranged a guard meant to prevent it from escaping through dreams. Meanwhile, Hao Ren and Veronica arrived at White City, where King Rudolf III awaited her return.

• Kalasios sealed the shapeless monster in Sukto's Cage, and Lily insisted that her bear monster guard it because bear monsters did not dream.
• The Nightmare Monster roared when Lily revealed that the Landlord had taught her how to thwart it.
• The monster horde and Sanctuary Investigation Team set out toward Tarus's southern borderlands the next morning.
• Hao Ren met Veronica on the airship's deck after his potions helped her sleep, and he discussed the damage the Chaos War had done to Kolo's civilization.
• Veronica promised Hao Ren the king's gratitude for saving her and asked whom he was searching for; Hao Ren said the woman should be nearby and likely to cause a commotion.
• The airship reached White City, where the royal family displayed its banners and Rudolf III watched Veronica come home.

Veronica returned to Tarus with Hao Ren and the surviving knights, where she introduced Hao Ren to King Rudolf III as an Ancient Guardian. On the way to the palace, Hao Ren noticed a hostile official and overheard that Veronica’s siblings were ill, suspecting their condition was more serious than the king admitted.

• Veronica and the twenty returning knights disembarked to a jubilant welcome from the people of Tarus.
• King Rudolf III embraced Veronica, and she introduced Hao Ren as an Ancient Guardian from the previous millennium.
• Hao Ren sensed unexplained hostility from a high-ranking official in a light-purple robe.
• Veronica asked Hao Ren to ride with her and Rudolf III in the royal carriage to discuss events in the Chaos Land.
• Veronica learned that Anya and Andrew were ill, and Hao Ren suspected the king was concealing the seriousness of their condition.

At the banquet in White City, Hao Ren slipped out and discussed the nobles’ celebration of Veronica’s return despite the western-front defeat. He gave Veronica portraits of his old friend, whose three forms included a gigantic dog-like beast, and asked the kingdom to help find her.

• Hao Ren left the banquet and went to the terrace for fresh air.
• Veronica joined Hao Ren, complained about her uncomfortable Princess Gown, and admitted she considered the border campaign a defeat despite the nobles calling it a triumph.
• Hao Ren explained that surviving the war against Chaos and keeping it beyond the barriers of Order counted as victory in the kingdom’s view.
• Hao Ren handed Veronica portraits of his old friend in three forms and explained that the enormous third form communicated by barking.
• Veronica wondered whether Hao Ren’s friend was an ancient Guardian Beast and stared in shock at the creature’s immense size.

Hao Ren continued searching the Kingdom of Taros for Lily while planning his broader investigation of the Kolo World. Willy Kand offered to help after recognizing clues that linked Lily to a legendary Wolf Walker, and Hao Ren agreed to visit the Kand estate.

• Hao Ren confirmed through the Data Terminal that Lily was alive and somewhere in the southern Ansu Continent, then arranged for Veronica to post missing-person notices.
• Veronica returned to the royal banquet, and Willy Kand approached Hao Ren to thank him for helping his sister, Lavinia.
• Willy learned that Hao Ren was searching for a three-form friend and recalled stories of a Wolf Walker in the mountains between Chongshan Territory and White Sand Valley.
• Willy offered to take Hao Ren to the Kand estate, where his family's adviser might know the Wolf Walker's whereabouts, and Hao Ren accepted.

Hao Ren visited the palace after news of the Ancient Guardian spread through White City, and Veronica brought him to meet her younger siblings. He met Anya in the garden before Veronica rushed out claiming Anya had disappeared.

• News of the Ancient Guardian spread through White City as the kingdom's officials responded to the border battle and the Hearth Device's mutation.
• Veronica told Hao Ren that her recovering younger siblings wanted to meet him, and he agreed to visit them.
• At the royal family's side palace, Hao Ren met Anya Beluni Ansa, who had been watering flowers in the garden.
• Veronica burst outside carrying a little boy and announced that Anya had disappeared.
• Hao Ren pointed out that Anya was standing right beside him.

Hao Ren visited Veronica’s recovering siblings, Anya and Andrew, and questioned them about their recent illness. Anya recognized that he suspected an attempt to harm them, leaving the possibility of foul play hanging over the royal family.

• Veronica mistook Anya’s absence from her room for a sign that she was lost, then accidentally carried Andrew under her arm until he nearly suffocated.
• Hao Ren observed that Anya and Andrew were pale and tired, and learned they had suffered severe weakness and fever before recovering with an alchemist’s medicine.
• Anya explained that the sorcerers had ruled out curses and elemental erosion, while the illness had no obvious cause or unusual exposure.
• Hao Ren asked about the medicine and whether the siblings had encountered unfamiliar food, objects, or people before falling ill.
• Anya dismissed the attendants and told Veronica that Hao Ren suspected someone had tried to harm her and Andrew.

Hao Ren and the princesses discussed the attacks on the royal heirs, and he recognized Anya’s past nightmares as signs of an outside evil will. The nightmares had faded, leaving Hao Ren to wonder whether they were connected to the Shadow Jungle sentry posts consumed by nightmares.

• Anya and Veronica suspected that someone had targeted the royal heirs, though they had found no concrete evidence or suspects.
• Hao Ren pointed out that Veronica’s danger on the western frontier could have been part of the same plot, but the princesses could not establish a link.
• Anya recalled that she and Andrew had suffered frequent nightmares while seriously ill, and she described her dreams to Hao Ren.
• Hao Ren identified the dreams as distorted by an outside will and warned that they indicated an invasion by a powerful evil thought.
• Hao Ren connected Anya’s nightmares to the terrifying nightmares that had devoured the Shadow Jungle sentry posts.

Hao Ren met Grand Duke Rune while leaving the princesses, and Rune tested whether he truly remembered ancient history. Hao Ren dodged the questions by claiming a prior appointment with the Kand Family, leaving Rune stunned by his parting promise to “educate” him.

• Veronica and Anya explained that Count Willie of the Kand Family was a celebrated young noble, and Hao Ren said he was headed to meet him.
• A carriage brought Grand Duke Rune to the princesses, and Hao Ren recognized him as the man who had watched him with hostility when he first arrived in White City.
• Rune questioned Hao Ren about ancient events, including the Suspended River and the Queen of Frost’s scepter, to test his claims of being an Ancient Guardian.
• Hao Ren admitted he knew the answers but refused to share them until he had honored his appointment with the Kand Family.
• Hao Ren called Rune a diligent young fellow and promised to educate him later, leaving Rune speechless.

Hao Ren traveled with Count Willie to Kand Manor to meet scholars who had researched the Wolf Walker resembling Lily. The scholars began questioning him to help locate her, and Hao Ren revealed that she had not guarded Kasuan Sacred Hall.

• Hao Ren left Golden Rose Palace with Count Willie after palace guards reported their destination to the grand duke.
• Willie brought Hao Ren to Kand Manor, where family advisers and scholars had gathered to meet him.
• Bachelor Lamor showed Hao Ren ancient records, including a blurry portrait resembling Lily, and explained that the Wolf Walker had last appeared two hundred years earlier.
• A scholar said the Wolf Walker secluded herself somewhere near Chongshan Territory and White Sand Valley, and the group asked Hao Ren questions to narrow the search.
• Lamor asked whether the Wolf Walker had guarded Kasuan Sacred Hall, and Hao Ren said she had not.

Hao Ren met with Count Willie and his scholars, who questioned him about the ancient war and the lost artifacts. After Willie and Lamor attacked him to test his identity, Hao Ren survived unharmed and revealed his name as he struck back.

• Hao Ren evaded most of Lamor’s historical questions by claiming he had lost his memories.
• Willie asked Hao Ren about the Kasuan Sacred Hall and its two artifacts, and Hao Ren revealed that Veronica’s Flag Bearer held the Radiant Disc.
• Willie dismissed his servant, then questioned whether mortals should pursue Order or accept Chaos as the world’s destiny.
• Lamor attacked Hao Ren with a powerful beam of fire after Hao Ren challenged Willie’s blasphemous suggestion.
• Hao Ren emerged unharmed thanks to Magic Immunity, and Willie demanded to know who he really was.
• Hao Ren identified himself as Hao Ren and swung his spear at Willie.

Hao Ren fought Count Willie and his assassins at Kand Manor, surviving Lamor’s devastating Origin Disintegration spell through his magic immunity. Lamor collapsed after the attack, while Hao Ren stood unharmed amid the destruction and confronted the survivors over the damage and their dead allies.

• Hao Ren pressed Count Willie with his plasma spear, and Willie sacrificed an arm to escape the attack.
• Willie ordered his assassins to attack, and Hao Ren killed the disguised warrior Handel and an invisible crossbowman.
• Lamor drank the forbidden Abyss Drop and cast Origin Disintegration, destroying a third of Kand Manor and killing several mages and warriors.
• Hao Ren emerged unharmed because his magic immunity blocked the disintegration ray.
• Hao Ren questioned the survivors as Lamor collapsed from the spell’s cost.

Hao Ren defeated the ambushers and discovered that Count Willie had escaped, leaving Lamor and three warriors behind. After the warriors killed themselves, Hao Ren shackled Lamor and saw Taros Royal Family cavalry approaching.

• Hao Ren questioned the wounded Lamor after Count Willie fled the battlefield.
• Lamor revealed that his group had targeted Hao Ren because Veronica had returned safely from the Land of Chaos, disrupting their plans.
• Hao Ren explained that he had suspected Count Willie's Wolf Walker story was fabricated and had brought shackles in anticipation of an ambush.
• Lamor refused to reveal the conspiracy's motives, and the three warriors suddenly killed themselves by destroying their internal organs.
• Hao Ren restrained Lamor with shackles and a neural suppressor as Taros Royal Family cavalry rode toward them.

Hao Ren met the Taros forces investigating Kand Manor and learned that Count Willie and the people there were heretics who had plotted against the kingdom. Grand Duke Rune invited Hao Ren to the Golden Rose Palace, where the king awaited them, while the soldiers captured and killed the manor’s surviving followers.

• Groen arrived with the Eagle Legion, and Hao Ren identified Lamor as the sole survivor of the attack on Kand Manor.
• Groen asked whether Hao Ren had dealt with the heretics at the manor, revealing that the kingdom already knew something was wrong there.
• Grand Duke Rune arrived and explained that he had suspected Hao Ren might be a heretic but had received word that Hao Ren opposed them.
• Rune told Hao Ren that the king was waiting for him at the Golden Rose Palace and said the heretics had infiltrated the kingdom.
• A captured servant revealed himself as a wizard and attacked the soldiers, but a silver-robed wizard killed him and the other attackers with lightning.

Rudolf III and his court explained the Annihilation Cult’s origins and beliefs to Hao Ren while investigating its role in the royal family’s troubles and Veronica’s ordeal. The meeting ended with the revelation that the Light of Asuman atop the Sanctuary had gone out.

• Veronica challenged Grand Duke Rune for treating Hao Ren as a suspect, but Hao Ren said he understood the kingdom’s caution.
• Alfred and Anya explained that the Annihilation Cult worshipped Chaos, sought the world’s destruction, and believed its own members should be annihilated too.
• Rudolf III said clues linked the cult to Anya and Andrew’s illness and to Veronica’s ordeal at the Western Fortress.
• Rune said the cultists could exploit the Chaos Tide, then Rudolf III authorized him to reveal that the Royal Arcanist had seen the Sanctuary’s Light of Asuman go out.

Hao Ren and the royal council learned that the Light of Asuman had gone out, leaving the Sanctuary vulnerable to Chaos and signaling a possible apocalypse. An revealed that heirs across the secular kingdoms were under coordinated attack, suggesting the Annihilation Cultists had begun a final assault on the mortal world.

• Alfred explained that the Light of Asuman was the Crystal Mountain Asuman, whose radiance protected the Sanctuary and powered the world’s Holy Artifacts of Order.
• Groen and Alfred warned that the Sanctuary could now fall to Chaos, while Anya and Rune linked the Annihilation Cultists to the spreading threat.
• Rudolf III described how the extinguished Light of Asuman and intensifying Chaos had destabilized the world and emboldened the cultists.
• Anya reasoned that the attack on Taros was part of a wider plot targeting royal heirs across the world.
• An reported that royal descendants in the Beacon Fire Kingdom, Eternal Winter Continent, and other nations had suffered deaths, disappearances, curses, illnesses, and assassination attempts.
• Rune concluded that every secular nation was under attack, as Hao Ren recognized the cultists’ actions as the beginning of a final assault.

Hao Ren learned that the Annihilation Cultists were stripping royal heirs of the Keeper Bloodline to weaken the Towers of Sunscorching and free Lockmadon’s power. With the rulers nearly exhausted and most heirs crippled, Veronica was the only known person able to ignite Tarus’s tower, but Lavinia D. Kand escaped with an Ancient Divine Artifact.

• Grand Duke Rune and Alfred explained that the cultists were targeting the royal families’ Keeper Bloodlines to weaken the suppression of Lockmadon.
• Veronica explained that the Sanctuary gave each royal family the Keeper Bloodline, which was needed to ignite the Tower of Sunscorching.
• Anya revealed that the cultists had stripped her Keeper Bloodline, and Rudolf III confirmed that other attacked heirs had lost theirs as well.
• Alfred warned that the Tower of Sunscorching and the kingdom’s Hearth Devices were weakening as chaos advanced across the borders.
• Rudolf III revealed that the rulers had exhausted their bloodline power during seven years of the Great Chaos Tide, leaving Veronica as the only known heir able to ignite Tarus’s tower.
• Rudolf III told Hao Ren that Lavinia D. Kand had escaped with cultist help after attacking Veronica’s Flag Bearer and stealing the Ancient Divine Artifact.

Hao Ren explained that Lavinia’s theft of the Radiant Disc suited his suspicions about the Annihilation Cult’s plans. In the south, Lizardman scouts found a human city destroyed by the Chaos Tide and returned to report to the Wolf Chief.

• Rudolf III told Hao Ren that he had identified the Kand family as Annihilation Cultists years earlier and had prepared to eliminate them.
• Hao Ren explained that the cultists’ interest in the Radiant Disc and the Heart of the Sky had exposed their motives, and he revealed that Lavinia had stolen the wrong artifact for their ritual.
• Ten Lizardman scouts ventured to the edge of the Black Forest under the Wolf Chief’s protective talisman and observed the ruined human city.
• The Lizardman Shaman ordered the scouts to return and tell the Wolf Chief that the city had fallen.

Lily learned that the Chaos Storm had broken through Taros’s first line of defense and ordered her enormous Beast Tide to march toward human territory. The chapter ended as the army surged out of the Black Forest.

• The Lizardman Shaman reported that the scout had returned safely and that the smoking towns were about a day away.
• Kalasios warned Lily that the Chaos Storm would regroup within two or three days and threaten Taros’s second line of defense.
• Lily surveyed the gathered tribes and realized that her followers had grown into a vast army of demihuman races and powerful creatures.
• Lily recalled how tribes had repeatedly joined her as she traveled through the Black Forest, sometimes submitting after being defeated and sometimes choosing to follow her against Chaos.
• Lily ordered the tribes to set out for human territory, and the Beast Tide began surging out of the forest.

Pope August VII faced the Sanctuary’s failing barrier and learned that Chaos storms were striking every continent while the Annihilation Sect took advantage of the crisis. Believing Asuman had called for a light on the Ansu Continent to help it recover, he ordered a second investigation team sent there and prepared to visit the Astrology Hall.

• August VII watched the Light of Asuman weaken as a crack in the Crystal Sacred Mountain threatened the Sanctuary’s barrier.
• When Bishop Verol reported that Monk Kalasios’s investigation team had not returned, August ordered a second team assembled, using reserve Magic Stones to free the manpower.
• August explained that a light on the Ansu Continent had awakened halls within Asuman, and said the Sanctuary had to find and bring that light back.
• Verol reported that Chaos storms had severed communications and shipping routes across the continents, while the Annihilation Sect exploited the kingdoms’ weakness.
• August warned that the coming Ignition Ceremony and exhausted Firebearers made the crisis especially ominous, then dismissed Verol.
• August told Asuman’s Gatekeeper to prepare the Door leaves so they could go to the Astrology Hall.

Pope August VII explored Asuman’s halls and learned that a foreign object lodged in the Throne of Divine Will was damaging the sacred mountain, though the gatekeeper could not open a route to it. He continued investigating the newly awakened Will Nexus, where a faint voice emanated from a crystal sealing a starry mass of light.

• August VII entered Asuman’s Astrology Hall and used the Crystal Tower to view a holographic map of the Kolo World, where a beacon marked the ancient Kasuan Temple on the Ansu Continent.
• August VII examined a display showing that a foreign object had lodged in the summit of Asuman, worsening the mountain’s damage despite its attempts to heal.
• August VII asked the gatekeeper whether there was a path to the summit, but her silence meant no route was available.
• August VII visited several halls, including the newly opened Will Nexus, where he heard a faint voice and saw a crystal containing a starry mass of light.

Three days after a devastating Chaos Storm, Philip and his squad guarded the badly damaged Black Raven Stronghold as its defenses struggled to recover. A new Chaos assault gathered outside the walls, and Philip charged into the fight as the fortress sounded the alarm.

• Philip surveyed Black Raven Stronghold's shattered defenses and weakened Tower of Kindling while enduring the sudden winter cold.
• Philip warned his exhausted soldiers to stay alert and listened as they discussed a Forest Demon Wolf leading a vast horde of magical beasts.
• A sentry spotted a mass of black smoke and magical beasts approaching from the Black Forest and shouted that a Chaos attack had begun.
• Black Raven Stronghold sounded its alarms, activated its defenses, and sent out the Griffin Cavalry as the Wizard Tower powered the magic crystal cannons.
• A bird-shaped monster formed from the black smoke and lunged at the walls, so Philip cursed, drew his weapon, and charged forward.

Black Raven Stronghold endured a second Chaos assault as Philip and his soldiers fought monsters pouring through a breach. As the defenders faced another storm, Miss Husky led an immense Beast Tide toward the fortress, believing she had found the Landlord.

• The Chaos storm battered Black Raven Stronghold’s barriers, and monsters broke through a weak point in the wall.
• Philip and his soldiers fought the intruding monsters, while Little Elunik died and Philip was wounded.
• Philip used emergency healing medicine and watched a new Chaos storm gather beyond the fortress.
• A vast host of magical beasts appeared on the horizon, startling the fortress’s commanders and officers.
• Miss Husky led the Beast Tide atop the Ancient Earth Dragon, convinced she had found the Landlord.

A vast Beast Tide arrived at Black Raven Stronghold under the Light of Order and joined the battle against the Chaos monsters. General Ulysses learned that the beasts intended to shelter the stronghold, then ordered his men to find out what braised spare ribs were, starting with the kitchen.

• The Light of Order swept across the battlefield as the Beast Tide advanced toward Black Raven Stronghold.
• General Ulysses prepared to face the approaching tide, while the battle against the Chaos monsters resumed around the stronghold.
• The Beast Tide charged the Chaos forces, and Sanctuary People within its ranks unleashed powerful divine spells.
• Ulysses learned that the magical beasts were defending the stronghold and that a black dragon had asked for braised spare ribs for the pack leader.
• Ulysses ordered a messenger to investigate braised spare ribs and sent him to the kitchen first.

Lily’s Beast Tide fought back the Chaos storm around Black Raven Stronghold, destroying its pillars of smoke and bringing the battle to an end. After Lily’s howl halted the tribes and they approached the fortress, Philip prepared to meet the rumored three-headed wolf.

• The Flame Giant Python Tiamat and the Beast Tide’s tribes attacked Chaos under Lily’s leadership, while the Light of Order weakened Chaos and prevented its dead from returning.
• The black dragon Aldusa destroyed the first pillar of smoke, and the fire Elemental Lord and Tiamat brought down the second.
• The Chaos storm subsided as the Beast Tide destroyed the remaining pillars, and the exhausted defenders at Black Raven Stronghold began cheering.
• Some Beast Tide tribes pursued the retreating Chaos until Lily’s wolf howl stopped them and brought the army back under control.
• The tribes tended to their wounded and moved toward Black Raven Stronghold, and Philip nervously anticipated meeting the rumored three-headed wolf.

After the Beast Tide helped repel the Chaos Tide, Lily led its delegation into Black Raven Stronghold to meet Duke Ulysses. The story left Lily facing three enormous pots of stew while Ulysses wondered why anyone had claimed Alpha Wolf had three heads.

• Philip watched the beast delegation approach Black Raven Stronghold and mistook Lily, riding Leviathan, for an envoy rather than Alpha Wolf.
• Ulysses prepared to receive the beast leader and defended opening the gates because the beasts had helped repel the Chaos Tide.
• Lily dismounted before Ulysses, introduced herself as Alpha Wolf, and surprised him by revealing she was not human.
• Lily asked when they would eat, and Ulysses explained that the fortress had prepared mountain-style stewed meat instead of braised pork ribs.
• Lily stared at the three large pots of stew, while Ulysses wondered who had told him Alpha Wolf had three heads.